Interdiction missions against drug trafficking aircraft, suspended in 2001, could effectively resume in 2025, with the active participation of combat forces under the command of the Peruvian Air Force (FAP), including the KT-1P “Torito” turboprops.
According to the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (DEVIDA), the FAP, together with the National Anti-Drug Directorate of the National Police (DINANDRO PNP) and the United States government, are moving full steam ahead in implementing the agreement, both in operational and regulatory terms.
In this scenario, the ideal aircraft to take on this new challenge in the skies is currently the modern South Korean turboprop, co-produced in Peru by its manufacturer, KAI (Korea Aerospace Industries), and SEMAN SAC at the Las Palmas Air Base workshops in Lima between 2014 and 2016.
The “Toritos” are part of Pilot Training School No. 51 (EFOPI), based in the now-defunct Air Group No. 51, which for decades was dedicated to initial instruction and concurrently to anti-drug efforts, headquartered at the “Captain FAP Renán Elías Olivera” Air Base (Pisco), 237 kilometers from Lima.
The 20 available units are currently used for primary flight training for young crews, sporting a high-visibility white and orange color scheme, as well as for light support and tactical attack (KA), with a military camouflage of two tones of light and dark gray.
EFOPI 51 and its KT-1Ps already have experience in low-intensity unconventional warfare, with real attack and bombing missions against the hideouts of the terrorist group “Sendero Luminoso” in the central jungle, which, after its dismantling and subsequent abandonment of the “class struggle,” transformed into a security element for cocaine paste and hydrochloride production camps.
Regarding pure interdiction, the FAP employed its Cessna A-37 “Dragonfly” counterinsurgency aircraft from Air Group No. 7 (Piura) until more than a decade ago, locally known as “Sapitos,” and the Embraer EMB-312 “Tucano” light attack aircraft from Air Group No. 51 (Lima), both patrolling the Alto Huallaga area and the Loreto region, monitored by U.S. electronic means.
Once these were deactivated, this function was temporarily assigned to the more powerful Sukhoi Su-25s of Air Group No. 11, which even participated in joint and combined training exercises organized with the air forces of Brazil (Per-Bra) and Colombia (Per-Col) on the Amazonian border of Putumayo.
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